Motel Carolina
by DigitalDaggers
Summary: What could be worse than mixing swords, knives, monsters, and hormones? Join the HOO gang as they battle mythological monsters and hyperactive teenage-demigod hormones across the U.S. to California's Sanguino Valley, the only place on Earth that holds the key to defeating Gaea. Humor. Adventure. Romance. What could be better?
1. Chapter 1

_**Percy POV**_

"Why is the Motel _Carolina_ in Nebraska?" Leo. I was just about to ask the same thing. It sounded moronic, though, so good thing he beat me to it.

"For real, man? Come on, you can't possibly be that-" Frank was cut off by Hazel. "-blind." She finished. Blind? What is she talking about? The sign obviously says _Carolina. _Or California. Or-

Damn that dyslexia.

I glanced at Annabeth in confusion. Reading my mind, she casually threw out, "Not that Motel _Carnation _makes much more sense." Gods, I love her. Even after being awake for 36 hours straight and having traveled through the entire never-ending state of Kansas, she still looks gorgeous. How did I get so lucky?

Said good luck gives me a strange look, and I realize someone is probably talking to me.

"Yo, Perce. Do we go in?" Leo again. Say what you will about him, but he recovers damn fast from humiliation. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Jason flinch slightly. I can tell he hates that Leo asked _me, _not him. He used to be the leader. Son of Zeus, and all. However, turns out, a trip to Tartarus and a bit of an age gap basically guarantees you the "leader" gig.

Now is not the time to ponder the feelings of this freak-show group. Now is the time to make an executive decision. I look around, and notice the sheer _exhaustion_ on everyone's faces. Even Piper, child of Aphrodite, has bags under her eyes and a rat's nest in her hair.

"I say we go in. Beggars can't be choosers, right?" Annabeth smiles gratefully at me, and I know I've made the right decision (even though there could potentially be an angry horde of monsters after us, we need sleep BAD). The conditions aren't exactly ideal (potential bedbugs, ratty mattresses, moldy showers, etc.), but after Tartarus this feels like a palace. Plus, we get three rooms for free. (And I only manipulate the Mist a teensy little bit.)

* * *

"One bed," Annabeth observes. "Did you plan this?"

"Yeah, Annabeth. I crossed an ocean, the infinite freaking state of Kansas, and a mountain range so I could sleep with you." I say sarcastically, smirking at her.

"Hey, don't you get lippy. I know how the teenage male mind works." She has no idea. I rip my eyes away from her legs as she changes into pajama bottoms and strip down to my boxers.

"Wanna go for a swim?" I waggle my eyes at her. She rolls hers, but takes her pajamas back off anyway. We wrap ourselves in towels and quietly tiptoe past the rooms of the rest of our crew out to the river next to the Carnation. It's surprisingly clear for the location, and I see a naiad swimming happily in the current.

_Would you mind…um…?_ The naiad rolls – waves? – her eyes at me, but swims downstream. I hop in. It's a little chilly, being October and all, but I can barely feel it. I know it won't feel the same way for Annabeth, though, so I warn her.

"It's a little chilly."

"Can't you, like, I don't know, warm it up or something?" I laugh, intrigued by the idea but doubtful.

"Just get in. You'll get used to it."

"Says the son of Poseidon," she mutters, but clambers in anyway. I can tell exactly when the cold hits her, because she freezes with her hands in the air, and then starts jumping up and down. After a minute or so, she relaxes a little and scoots in deeper. I lean against the bank.  
"So. Come here often?" I wink at her, and she smacks my arm and laughs. We start talking, and for a while it's like we're the only people in the world. I noticed she's stopped shivering.

"We have to talk about it sometime," I say. Her laughter dies instantly and she glances down, avoiding my eyes. "We'll go insane if we don't." She snorts.

"I know, I just… I don't know if I'm ready," she whispers. A cricket chirps in the distance.

The moonlight falls across her nose and cheeks, casting shadows of her eyelashes onto her cheekbones.

"Like what you see?" She jokes. I nod, deciding to save the Tartarus therapy-group for another day. "Come here." Slowly, she makes her way across the river. I put my arms around her and rest my chin in her hair.

"I love you," I whisper.

"I don't really like you too much, actually. I was thinking maybe I'd go ask the bits of Kronos if he'd give me a chance, because you're not really-" Cutting her off with a growl, I spin her around and kiss her. I can feel her smiling against my lips, and all feels right in the world.

Even the sheets, when we finally crawl into bed, feel like 1,000-count Egyptian cotton. Sleep overtakes us within seconds, and I feel the happiest I've felt in a long time.

At least, until the next morning.

* * *

"Wake up." Shaking. Jostling. "PERCY. Wake up!" More shaking. I suddenly register that it's Annabeth's voice and she sounds urgent, so I whip out of bed and uncap Riptide before my eyes are really even open. Annabeth leaps back, but doesn't look overly surprised. More like she expected me to be jumpy.  
I mumble something that might resemble "What's going on," but it sounds pretty butchered, even to me. Annabeth gets it, though, and taps her ear, telling me to listen. Stilling, I hear a roar from the lobby.

"PERSEUS JACKSON!"

Why is it always my name? Not that I'd rather the monster be after one of my friends, but seriously. Don't these things have other targets?

_**Annabeth POV**_

I can't help it. I giggle a little as Percy stumbles out the door to go fight whatever it is this time. His bed-head is just so damn _adorable._

The voice roars his name again. It sounds vaguely familiar. Scrambling down the hall after Percy, I shout at the others to get their scrawny asses out here. In various states of consciousness, Piper, Jason, Leo, Hazel, and Frank stumble out onto the grungy carpet.

"What's up?" Piper asks.

"Yeah, why'd you wake me? I need my beauty sleep, you know," Leo adds.

"PERSEUS JACKSON!"

"Oh," everyone realizes. "What is it?" asks Jason. If I'm right about him, he probably just asked to seem relatively in charge. He and Percy used to be in some sort of manliness war, but now it seems that Percy's won, and Jason isn't real thrilled about it.

"Not sure, but it reminds me of something…" I trailed off.

"I KNOW WHO YOU ARE NOW! GAEA SAID PERSEUS JACKSON IS NOBODY! NOBODY IS YOU!"

Oh, gods. "It's Polyphemus. We fought him for the Golden Fleece once. Gods, that feels like ages ago… We should be able to handle him, although last time we had a daughter of Ares and a pseudo-bride satyr, so we're gonna have to change up the strategy," I informed the group. With that, I turned on my heel and shot down the stairs to go help my boyfriend.

* * *

**So. How was it? I hope you liked reading it. There's more where that came from.**

**R&R, please!**


	2. Chapter 2

_**Percy POV**_

Just my luck: the monster that reminded me of Grover in a dress was the first one I would meet after closing the Doors of Death. Apparently he escaped before me. If only Annabeth and I had spent a little less time desperately trying not to die in a brutal, horrifying way…

Polyphemus looks even worse this time. He still reeks like he hasn't had a bath since the dawn of the gods, and he's added sparkles, sequins, and fake gems to his loincloth. The pinks and purples clash horribly with his orangey-brown skin.

"Percy!" Annabeth shouts as she flies down the stairs. _CRACK._ Oops. Hopefully they got insurance on that crumbling reception desk. I whirl around to meet Polyphemus with Riptide, slashing a hole in his newly-bedazzled diaper cloth. Little beads go everywhere, and Piper slips as she comes down the stairs.  
"Sorry!" I shout over my shoulder. Making eye contact with Annabeth, I sprint between his legs, trying not to put my eye out on a rhinestone, and slice a gash in both legs while Annabeth runs around him, uses the banister as a springboard, and launches herself at his arm. She stabs Ugly right in the bicep, giving way to a high-powered gush of golden ichor and knocking Annabeth to the ground, where she lays, obviously unconscious.

"ANNABETH!" I scream helplessly. "Oh, you're gonna pay for that one," I mutter, and then raise my voice. "NOBODY touches my girlfriend!"

_**Piper POV**_

How romantic. I wish Jason would say things like that about me sometimes. Percy and Annabeth are just so _perfect_ together, so obviously meant to be it almost hurts to watch.

However, despite the sweetness of the comment, the Cyclops reacts not-so-sweetly.

"Nobody? You are back? I WILL KILL YOU, NOBODY!" I can see it, literally, as Percy mentally smacks himself. Apparently, the word "nobody" has some history with… Polyphemus, I think Annabeth called him. Percy recovers quickly, though, just like always in battle. He's the best I've seen with a sword, but I've got say, his all-over-the-place attitude scares me a little.

I try to find an opening to help out, but Percy is like a machine. We all just stand there and watch, trying to jump in but unable to see how we could help, while Percy slashes, jumps, kicks, and stabs his way to victory. He doesn't glory in it, though, not even a little. Before Polyphemus has even hit the ground, Percy's running to Annabeth's side. His face is creased with worry.

_**Annabeth POV **_

Oh, gods. My head. I stir feebly, and out of the blurry haze that is my usually-20/20 vision, I see a black mop and two sea-green pinpricks.

"Seaweed Brain…" I manage. He laughs with relief, and I realize he was truly worried about me. I didn't even really hit the ground that hard, and I can usually hold my own in a fight. What's wrong with me?

I hug Percy, but I'm only half-there.

A child of Athena who can barely fight. Some daughter I am. Maybe I really _am_ a disappointment.

_**Percy POV **_

I can see how bothered Annabeth is that she didn't win the fight. She _always _wins. Well, except when she fights me. But that's the exception. Unfortunately, we'll have to talk about it later. We can't stay here.

* * *

"I was really starting to warm up to that unique Carolina charm found only in Nebraska," Leo says sarcastically. "Carnation," Annabeth corrects automatically, although she's staring out the passenger window, lost in thought. "Whatever," Leo mutters under his breath. Not even Leo's ballsy enough to "whatever" Annabeth to her face. No one would dare.

"So, where are we going?" Hazel asks. Everyone looks at me expectantly. This group is too big. We'll attract WAY too many monsters, and I can't make all the decisions for the lives of this many demigods. The leadership of seven people versus three or four… it's a big jump. If Annabeth weren't lost in her reverie, I'm sure she would have some brilliant plan just like always, but she's still contemplating the scenery. I start to rule out options: We can't split up. We'll lose each other, and then we'll never make it to Sanguino Valley. Apparently, the blood of some of the most powerful demigods of all time is stored there, somehow. The only thing that'll stop Gaea is relocating the stash to Olympus. She feeds off of the immense power stored in Sanguino Valley, and it makes her too strong to even consider fighting. Even if the gods successfully recover from their schizophrenic episode, we've still got only a slim chance. Hopefully, relocating the blood will give the gods the strength that Gaea currently possesses, and our odds will start looking up. At least, that's the simplified version Annabeth gave me. I'm sure there's a complicated legend involved, but there are some things that not even Annabeth can make interesting.

I swear on the Styx, there's nothing in Nebraska but fields. Nothing. But. Fields. Demeter has obviously smiled upon this place, for better or worse.

"I spy, with my little eye, something… yellow," Leo hints. Frank, Jason, and Leo have been at it for hours. Somehow, spying yellow corn and blue sky never gets old. Man, I wish we still had the _Argo II_. We left it in New York at Camp Half-Blood because flying over this much land is dangerous. Anyone could see us, and now that we know Gaea's minions are possessing most of the population, she's got eyes everywhere. Last time we all had to get across the U.S., it wasn't an issue. We didn't really have to worry, because no one would see through the Mist. Now, the possessed humans of America can see too clearly, and we can't fly in our big, honking, CONVENIENT ship anymore.

"Stop it, Frank, you're squishing me." "I'M squishing YOU?" "Guys, cut it out. You sound like third-graders." "OUCH that was my FOOT you idiot!" "Are we there yet?"

Gods.

You don't know what you've got till it's gone.

_**Annabeth POV**_

What is wrong with me? Was my trajectory off? I could've sworn I aimed perfectly, right for the huge vein in his arm…

Maybe I'm just getting rusty.

My more-confident half argues against that. _No way. You just fought your way out of _Tartarus_, for crying out loud._

Oh, right. "Rusty" doesn't get you out of hell. Still, something feels off. Why did I pass out so easily? I've fallen from 20 feet in the air before without so much as a concussion. If only I still had that laptop. Maybe Daedalus would've known what's up.

My stomach lurches.

"Stop! Pull over!" I shout. Percy immediately does so. I've got the door open and I'm hopping out before the car has even stopped completely. The sound of another door slamming breaks through my swirling consciousness. "Annabeth?" It's Percy.

"I'm fine, I'm fine, just give me a-" And then I vomited all over the side of I-80. Percy holds back my hair as I lose what feels like everything I've ever eaten.

When the barfing finally ceases, I rock back on my heels and chug the water Percy hands me. "What _was _that?" Percy asks. "I know I'm not the best driver in the whole world, but still…" he jokes weakly. I laugh a little, but I can't help but wonder along with him.

* * *

**Thanks for the reviews, people! Keep it up! **

**I'm having a lot of fun writing this story. Hopefully you're having fun reading it.  
**

**Until next time,**

**DigitalDaggers**

******P.S. Appreciate the cliffhanger. It is a wonderful (and infuriating) literary device.**

**R&R!**


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